Possible Delay in Chevron’s Delta LNG Production
According to a report in the Caracas Daily Journal, Chevron has found enough natural gas in Venezuela’s Orinoco Delta platform to warrant the country’s first LNG train. But Venezuela’s lacking gas infrastructure and indecisive construction plans have led some in the industry to wonder if Chevron will be forced to delay production. The Delta platform license issued by the energy ministry to Chevron last year stated that the company could submit a proposal to build pipe-lines from its fields to the planned CIGMA liquefied gas plant in the Paria Peninsula. But the government appeared to change its mind when state-run Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) announced in August that it intended to build the pipelines by itself.
Brazil Reconsiders Shelved LNG Plan
Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras may revive a shelved liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports project for the northeast due to disappointment with soaring costs of its planned Gasene natural gas pipeline, according to a Reuters report. A regasification plant could be an alternative to Gasene, or be used jointly with the pipeline as natural gas demand in Latin America’s largest country is soaring. Gasene is designed to connect Brazil’s southeastern and northeastern gas networks. Its initial estimated cost of over $1.1 billion went above $2 billion after Brazil brought in Chinese partner Sinopec earlier this year. Demand for natural gas is growing rapidly at over 20 percent a year in Brazil due to increasing industrial use and back-up thermoelectric plants.
